


Hunter's Deal

by XantunsiaRiveresiana



Series: Gilberti Riveresiana Chronicles [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Business, Corporate Espionage, Crimes & Criminals, Espionage, Gen, Murder, Original Character Death(s), Samurai | SAM (Final Fantasy XIV), Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:46:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23901046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XantunsiaRiveresiana/pseuds/XantunsiaRiveresiana
Summary: All work and no play can bring the monster out of you.
Series: Gilberti Riveresiana Chronicles [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700908
Kudos: 1





	Hunter's Deal

“It’s a mockery of hunting. A boring, predictable, pathetic mockery, but fundamentally hunting all the same…”  
“So, we have a deal then?” The young merchant said, despite such ruthlessly irritating thoughts swirling through his head, with a smile.  
“A deal indeed.” agreed the elderly man across from him. “I shall pray for your success in business that this truce will provide you with”  
A comment that repulsed the younger even more, though you wouldn’t know it from his expression. You could know very little from the youthful Cartel Head’s smile in fact. Another difference between the two besides simply age. They both presented their hands with a smile, and they both knew that their handshake signaled less of a business deal, and more of a latching trap. But only one face showed this knowledge. The old merchant smiled knowingly, wryly, an aged, knowledgeable, pleased, and also cruel grin. It was clear these two rival criminals had not made peace so much as they had finalized one another’s end. THis exchange was but a dance, a show to put on to gloat about that fact. A show the old man was more than pleased to partake in, and one Gilberti was not, though even that you could not tell from his expression.

No, for though the face he presented was a smile, it was the same smile one might find on a porcelain doll. A predetermined, unyielding, unwavering, an uncanny expression just barely reminiscent of human joy. Yes it is quite obvious when a doll is smiling  
But WHY the doll is smiling  
No one can decipher.  
This was Gilberti’s resolve, and it was the lack of this in his prey that sickened him.  
“The arrogance of only hunting merchant prey…” He continued to think through his disappointment. He could understand the reasoning behind it, having been hunting exclusively merchants for the last year of his life. It was no secret between either of them that there was no peace to be had, that traps were to be set, and so why bother hiding that fact? But such logic reveals the inexperienced. Gilberti was no such thing, and while he did not respect his merchant prey as monsters, or even people, he also did not underestimate him. Echo location, infrared vision, sensing vibrations in the ground, You can never be certain of all your prey’s defenses. And while humans do not have such a variety of different senses, these more… delicate hunts can come with more delicate things to sense. It was from this experience that Gil took on the neutrality, mystery, of a doll. Freezing his face like porcelain, consciously keeping his heart rate neutral, rigidly minding body language, Gilberti was determined to not underestimate human prey and to not give away his own hunting plans. 

His opponent on the other hand, did not have such precautions.  
“They’ve got men in the Sekiseigumi.” Gilberti informed his men upon returning to from the meeting place, stating this new information as fact  
“Sekiseigumi?! Sir how did you-" the lacky began to ask before Gilberti continued, his face as chillingly still as before, but no longer smiling. Instead in it the usual scowl his crew was used to.

"He practically flaunted his tells with talk of peace, but none of them showed when discussing the noninterference deal. He's not simply breaking it, he's found a work around. His palm during the shake also wasn't sweaty in the least, he's not only confident that this ally could handle us, but also confident in their allegiance, it's not a new ally. We've isolated them to the point where they had to make this deal, no criminal ally remains that could rival us. Even if there was one hidden, a criminal ally could be argued as breaching the agreement, The Sekiseigumi are law enforcement, catching us is not suspicious. Not to mention it would explain many things about the rise of their organization." Gilberti lectured nonchalantly to an awestruck subordinate. He continued realizing most of what he said had gone over his muscle-bound head.

"Leave the hunting plan to me. Thoroughly read prey is not a challenge, it is an inevitability." He said, walking off. As he approached his quarters to begin planning, as if you could hear them shattering, his cold masks were thrown away from his face. It may have been a simple enough hunt, but it was a hunt nonetheless, and as he pondered the preparations to make his truest face revealed itself. The bestial, fang baring grin, the starved, excited eyes that knew what was to come next.

The fun part.

\---

HEADLINE: 

Sekiseigumi Infiltration!

"Public was stunned today to learn that a handful of members of the Sekiseigumi, including a high ranking officer, were being paid off by a syndicate of black market merchants! This was discovered when the aforementioned high ranking officer committed seppuku, leaving behind a suicide note admitting to his treachery and ousting the other conspirators.

Though the note was found, secretly delivered to Captain Kongo himself, mentioning the seppuku, his death was first discovered from parts of hso dismembered body washing ashore in the harbor. It is believed his conspirators are responsible, trying to cover the seppuku up. While they have not admitted to this crime yet, they have admitted to their corruption at the hands of the Syndicate.

This investigation has prompted the Sekiseigumi's full force hunting of the criminal organization responsible for the dishonor on the law enforcement's name, having already shut down many shadow businesses related to them and apprehended a large number of their lower ranking members. As their hunt continues, it seems it is only a matter of time before the darkness of Kugane is purged by the might of the Sekiseigumi."

Gilberti read from the paper, tossing a severed arm into the sea, the last of the badly tortured limbs he had to relieve himself of, for now at least. 

"It's quite the courtesy for the news to not explicitly name your organization, perhaps a sort of, respect for the dead kind of mentality?

What do you think, old man?"

Gilberti posed the cruel question to the beaten rival criminal head in a gentle tone, donning his porcelain smile as he did so. Though at this point, former rival criminal head was more accurate, as you cannot be a head with no one to lead, and the old man's organization was dismantled with his most trusted officers and himself escaping the last Sekiseigumi raid, and those officers laid at his feet, in a bloody mess one could easily mistake for the floor of a slaughterhouse. This left just himself, and the lone man responsible for the slaughter

Gilberti.

With his uncomfortable, doll-like smile.

"Though sicking the Sekiseigumi on us already warrented it, I believe it's only proper that I now announce the dissolving of our agreement. I feel bad for the law though, finding you having committed suicide will surely deprive them of the catharsis they were looking for." Gilberti mocked, which was somehow more unsettling in his pleasant tone. "If you have any requests for what I should put in the note, I'll listen to them at least"

And then he heard it

The sign that the hunt had ended

"You're...a…. monster….!"

And finally

Finally he could tear off that stupid mask.

First casting his head down in an uncharacteristically emotive chuckle, before tossing his head up, his laugh evolving into a terrifying cackle that lasted much longer than even the bare minimum levels of comfort would allow. And then it was cut suddenly, his inhibitions, his caution going with it, being certain that there were no longer necessary from what would be that old man's last words.

Lifting the prey into the air quickly by his aged throat and bringing him right to his face to reveal himself to his opponent, no, his victim, for the first time

The bestial, fang baring grin. The starved, long-denied, and excited eyes, the monstrous expression the man would expect from his experience with the youth.

Gilberti could finally show this face to the man because his hunt had been completely successful. Not just in the hunt, truth be told, there were simpler ways to complete that, but he had succeeded in setting up the circumstances he'd been craving.

"Yes! I suppose I would be to you wouldn't eyes would I?! In that case, I would hate to disappoint your expectations! Lets see it then! Lets see how long you can be hunted!!"

Yes, the cacophony of tortured screams and hideous laughter that followed that bit of taunting confirmed he was able to indulge in his bad habit.

He could now play with his "food."


End file.
